The Orange District Junior Cricket Association (ODJCA) was awarded the Cricket Australia’s A Sport for All Cricket Association of the Year award on Friday night at Melbourne’s Junction Oval, backing up its state award too.

Did ODJCA president David Cumming expect the gong? Not at all.

He said he was shocked to get the nod for the Cricket NSW equivalent at the start of the month, let alone be nominated for the national award.

“We’re a little association in Orange just doing what we do,” he said.

“Sitting there and listening to all these other associations talking about what we do, I wasn’t expecting to win at all.”

But ask Cumming what the association had done during the 2017-18 season and it becomes apparent “just doing what we do” is an awful lot for a “little” association. 

The ODJCA’s focus on inclusion with the Rainbow Cricket Club and Indigenous cricket, as well as the work the association does with schools across Orange, largely through its Primary Schools Cricket Development Grant.

Brand new synthetic wickets were also installed at Orange High School and James Sheahan Catholic School, which helped put the ODJCA in good stead.

Add in the under-13 and under-15 Western NSW Junior Carnivals, attracting 36 teams – boys and girls – from as far as Queensland, Victoria and even New Zealand, and the ODJCA clocks up a mighty impressive resume. 

That said, it wasn’t until all the work the ODJCA does was spelt out to Cumming he realised just how far beyond simply running an association the committee and community does. 

“It is a pat on the back,” he said. 

However, he said the award couldn’t just be accepted on the back of work done by the current committee, saying there was far more at work than what the people in charge do.

“It’s not just an award for the committee, it’s for the whole community,” Cumming said.

Cumming said a lot of the work done by the ODJCA wouldn’t get half as far or be half as successful without schools, clubs, parents, players, senior clubs, groundskeepers or Orange City Council behind them. 

“Whenever we say ‘we want to do something’ they say ‘sure, how do we best go about doing that?’,” Cumming said of the council’s involvement, before adding it extended to all the people and organisations the ODJCA works with. 

Cumming also said the current committee stood on the shoulders of giants, with Carl Sharpe foremost among those – the late legend being the pioneer of the under-13 and under-15 carnivals and a huge part of junior cricket in Orange during his time. 

He also pointed to former president Nick Cooper, as well as Scott Larsen, Greg Seib, Jo Hunter – who was nominated for the NSW Junior Cricket Champion of the Year award – Katherine Warburton, Erin Jarick, Gus Wilson, Gerald Hannelly, Andy Litchfield, Chris Howarth as massive contributors, but said the list of people the ODJCA owed thanks for its success was extraordinarily long. 

The ODJCA’s work is set to continue in the 2018-19 season and preparations are beginning now, with the AGM scheduled for Thursday, June 28 from 6pm at Riawena Oval’s pavilion.

Nominations are being called for for the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and registrar roles, in writing, to be submitted to ODJCAPresident@gmail.com.